Since they have fixed these costs against their revenues, they will be fixing profits. Profit certainty.

Just because I know what one of my expenses will amount to, that does not guarantee that I will make a profit. Player salaries are but one expense that teams have to budget during the year. There’s also the coaching staffs, the scouting departments, the training staff, the equipment made available to players, the travel expenses, etc. There’s also building maintenance for those teams that own the arenas. Do they always know when something will break down with the ice plant, the zamboni, the physical building itself? The more reliably I can predict what my costs will be during the year, the better I can deal with the unexpected costs that arise. But when I have to deal with those problems with only 25% – 30% of my revenues, then that makes it difficult to deal with those situations.

]]>By: rojokehttp://hockeytraderumors.com/are-nhl-owners-owed-a-profit/comment-page-2/#comment-98388
Fri, 17 Dec 2004 20:17:50 +0000http://localhost/wordpress24/?p=9276#comment-98388If I may offer an outside voice to this on two points.

The NHLPA is not a union in the same way the UAW or the Teamsters are. Those “unions” actually negotiate the wages their membership receive for their work. In the NHL, the players are left to negotiate their own salaries.

Unions normally do have acces to arbitration. It’s reserved for grievances filed by employees for what they see as actions which are in violation of their collective bargaining agreements. I don’t think any employee has sought to have their own salary determined by arbitration. Many public services unions do have the right to use arbitration to set salaries and benefits when negotiating CBAs, but not individual employees during an active agreement.

The NHL wants to make the salary variable from year to year based on revenues.

I’ve haven’t heard or read anything that indicates this is what the NHL is looking for. Players will still negotiate their individual contracts in the same manner as they always have. It’s just that the team’s total payroll will have to be under a specified amount, as a percentage of total league revenue.